Level the car-for-hire field

Technology-based car-for-hire businesses, whose services can be hailed and paid for with the touch of a smartphone, are coming under more regulatory scrutiny as they compete with taxis, limousines and shuttles.

Fort Worth city staff members have been working for months on a policy that places app-based companies like Uber and Lyft on a similar playing field as the more common cablike transportation modes.

A proposal presented to the City Council on Tuesday would, among other things, require annual company and per-vehicle fees, city-issued driving permits, criminal background checks, drug testing and a tiered insurance plan that would distinguish between part-time app-based operators in their own vehicles and other companies that are full-time commercial operations.

Conflicting bills — one giving cities the authority to regulate the technology-based businesses, the other prohibiting that authority — are before the state Legislature.

Local entities should not be hindered in their attempt to enact proper regulations.

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Level the car-for-hire field."